


tell me you love me (i already know)

by jbhmalum



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship/Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Rating for Language, Sort of? - Freeform, but really imagine what you want it doesn't matter that much, i think that tag is fitting, this is supposed to take place circa 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbhmalum/pseuds/jbhmalum
Summary: “You’re insufferable. I hate you.”“Not true,” Calum says assuredly. “I’m your favourite, and you love me.”
Relationships: Michael Clifford/Calum Hood
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	tell me you love me (i already know)

**Author's Note:**

> tbh i just wanted to write michael sitting between calum's legs because of that 4/4 video we got a couple days ago where, yes, it looks like michael is sitting between calum's legs... but then I made this little thing.
> 
> hope you enjoy it xx

There’s something shaking his shoulder slightly, and it takes Michael a moment to realize that it’s not something in his already forgotten dream. 

With a still half asleep groan he shrugs the hand off and turns on his stomach, wrapping his heavy arms around his pillow and burying his face in it. There is absolutely no need to be awake at this hour. Not that Michael has any idea what time it actually is, but he figures the point still stands, as he would be inclined to say that any time of the day.

A too bright laugh rings close to his ears as he feels a weight settle on the bed behind him, and then Calum is draping himself over Michael with no preamble, shaking his shoulder once again before leaving a wet kiss on his cheek, making Michael whine and bury his face further into his pillow.

“Mikey,” Calum says, way too loud and happy in Michael’s ear. “Please get up, I want to go to the beach. Come on, come with me.”

“No,” Michael slurs, “go and annoy Luke or Ashton. Or go back to your own room.”

“I don’t want to, that’s boring. I want to go look at the stars.”

“Well, I don’t.” If Calum wants to go out and see the fucking stars, then that means it’s way too fucking early to be awake. “I want to sleep.”

“Yeah, but you can sleep when you’re dead, and all that,” Calum says as if he doesn’t know sleeping is Michael’s favourite activity in the world.

Michael grunts again, doing his best to try and make one with his mattress to hopefully be left alone, but to no avail. Calum is strong, has only been getting stronger the past few months what with all the working out he's been doing, and before Michael has time to fight back he’s being turned over on his back, Calum straddling his thighs immediately and effectively preventing him from hiding again.

“What the hell, leave me alone, you’re heavy,” Michael grumbles, covering his face with his arms. He doesn’t push Calum away though, the weight of him comfortable and familiar on top of him.

“I’m not,” Calum dismisses. “Come on, wake up! I want to go with you.”

“What time is it?”

“Like, three am?” Calum says as a question, even though he probably knows exactly what time it is. Michael groans again.

“Dude, are you for real right now?” Michael rubs at his eyes, and when he finally opens them as much as he can, he makes out Calum’s silhouette shrugging on top of him, illuminated by the moonlight. “I didn’t come here to not be able to sleep whenever I want to. That’s what holidays are _for_. We came here to relax, and to me relaxing means sleeping. Not getting woken up in the middle of the night.”

Apparently electing to ignore him, Calum ruffles Michael’s hair with a soft laugh. Michael wants to make a disapproving noise again, but the sound is sweet and calming like the waves outside the house, and it's just making him melt right under Calum.

“I mean, you’re awake now, so might as well come with me.”

Michael sighs, knowing he stands no chance. “You’re insufferable. I hate you.”

“Not true,” Calum says assuredly. “I’m your favourite, and you love me.”

Not that Calum gives him any time to answer, getting off him swiftly and tugging on Michael’s arms to sit him up, but Michael thinks it might be for the better. No matter how grumpy he is, in his half awake state he might have just done something awfully cheesy and scary like _agreeing_ with Calum. Both of them know Calum is right, but saying it out loud? Maybe not for now. It’s enough to just _know_.

“Come on Mikey, put some pants on and join me! I’ll wait for you by the front door,” Calum says, smile and too much alive energy in his voice as he moves to stand in the doorway.

“What if I don’t want to wear pants?” Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Michael lets his bare feet hit the cool floor, a welcome sensation. It’s not too hot since it’s the middle of the night, but it’s late July on the L.A. coast and Michael always runs hot too quickly.

“I mean, you do you,” Calum shrugs. “If you want to find sand in your ass for the next three months, then be my guest.”

With one last smile Michael’s way Calum disappears into the dark hallway, and, resigned, Michael groggily gets up to put his swimming shorts on. He does  _ not  _ want to find sand in his ass for the next three months.

  
  
  


When Michael gets to the front door, eyes squinting from the dazzling moonlight, Calum isn’t here like he said he’d be. Instead Michael can see him sitting down on the sand, not too far from the water swaying in graceful waves, leaning back on his elbows, head thrown back to take in the night. Michael can’t see his face from here, but he pictures him with his eyes closed, the light warm breeze hitting his face softly.

With one last stretch of his arms to try and get rid of the last traces of sleep in his body, Michael makes his way towards Calum, still bare feet hitting the soft sand as soon as he gets off the porch. The house the four of them are currently staying in for a well-deserved break is right next to the sea, which Ashton had insisted on when they were deciding where to go. Said it would help him meditate better.

Michael doesn’t hate the beach or the sea, but he doesn’t like it, either. It’s too messy, too unpredictable. He doesn’t feel particularly safe here. How could he? What chance would he stand against the force of nature that is the ocean? 

“Are you gonna stay standing here?” Calum asks, eyes indeed closed, when Michael has been right behind him for about a full minute. He looks as peaceful as Michael would have expected.

Calum can’t see Michael shrug, but he probably hears it in his voice. “You know I’m not a fan of the water. You couldn’t have sat closer to the house?”

“We’d be too close to Ashton and Luke.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Michael frowns.

Calum opens his eyes and blinks, looks at Michael upside down as another slight smile tears at his lips. “Sit with me,” he says, calm and serene. “I’ll protect you.”

That should not reassure Michael. Because if he can’t do anything against the vast, deep blue, then neither can Calum. And yet, from these words alone Michael already feels one step closer to safe. Like nothing bad can happen to him. It makes sense, though. From the day he met Calum he’s felt like everything would be okay as long as Calum was here to protect him. And it’s silly and a little bit dramatic, probably, but Michael feels like that’s been the case since then, every day of their lives. And he already knows this is going to be true until they’re both old and grey.

Shaking the thought, Michael goes to sit right next to Calum, but a hand on his arm stops him before he’s even started crouching down. “No,” Calum shakes his head. “Not here.”

Michael is confused at first, because where else would Calum want him to sit? But then Calum sits up and pats the ground in between his own legs, and Michael feels himself both blush and sigh contentedly.

He’s still somewhat asleep, so he doesn’t dwell on the blushing part, instead smiles back at Calum and sits in front of him like they haven’t done in a while. He can feel Calum’s thighs bracketing his hips and Calum’s clothed chest plastering itself against his bare back, and Michael feels his whole body melt against Calum’s as he loops his arms around Michael’s middle, holding him close like it’s the easiest thing for him to do.

This is what safe and sound feels like, Michael finds himself thinking. Wrapped up in Calum’s arms, Calum’s steady heartbeat familiar against his skin and regulating Michael’s, Calum’s breath hot against Michael’s ear. He could be anywhere, right now. He could be here on this empty beach or on the bus’s back lounge couch watching crappy TV, or in Michael’s childhood bedroom after school, refusing to do their homework in favour of singing each other their favourite songs.

“Are you even looking at the stars?” Michael asks after a while when it feels like Calum’s face has been buried in his shoulder instead of looking up. Michael’s not looking, either, too busy keeping an eye on the waves, but he’s not the one who woke up his friend specifically for that reason.

Calum shrugs against him. “Not really. Mind kind of taken up with other things.”

“Like what?”

“Like you.”

Michael’s heart misses a beat in his chest. “What about me?”

“You smell good,” Calum says softly in response, nuzzling behind Michael’s ear.

“Do I now?”

Calum hums, the sound reverberating down Michael’s spine. “You smell like sleep and like my shampoo that I  _ know  _ you stole but that I never bothered to ask you to give back to me. And you smell like the beach and like you and– you smell like home. You  _ feel  _ like home. I mean you are; we’ve been each other’s home for years. And having you there is just. It’s worth a billion skies full of stars.”

Speechless isn’t something Michael has ever felt with Calum, but there’s no other way to explain how he’s feeling right now. He doesn’t know what to say. He’s not even sure he knows what to think. This isn’t the type of things they tell each other. It’s unsaid, always, between them; deep inside him, Michael knows all of this. This shouldn’t come as any shock. This shouldn’t confuse him.

But it seems Calum always finds ways to take him by surprise, and this might just be the best way Michael’s ever been told ‘I love you’. He doesn’t know what to say to that, but he feels like he should say  _ something _ , at least, and his heart keeps beating faster the longer he stays silent, hands flying to Calum’s to grip them tight.

“Hey,” Calum says, squeezing Michael’s hands back. “Please don’t, like, freak out or anything.”

“I’m not freaking out.”

“Well. I hope that’s true.” A kiss to Michael’s temple. “This isn’t– this doesn’t have to be anything. It’s just us.”

“And that’s enough?” Michael asks, his heartbeat already slowing down at the words.

“Of course that’s enough. It’s  _ been  _ enough. Why wouldn’t it be now?”

Calum is annoyingly right, as he often is. Just because he just said out loud what they’ve been feeling forever, it doesn’t mean Michael should make a big deal out of it. It’s Calum and it’s Michael and it’s Calum-And-Michael and they love each other and that’s that.

“I’m not saying I never want it to be anything,” Michael thinks important to add. He doesn’t want to give Calum the wrong impression. “I just–”

“Mike,” Calum breaks off. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I told you, we can just chill. I was just… feeling feelings and thinking thoughts.”

“Are you sure? You’re not just saying that for me?”

“Hundred percent. I promise. We’ll cross that bridge if we get to it.”

“When,” Michael corrects.

“Sure. When, then. But it doesn’t matter to me. As long as you’re here with me, it doesn’t matter  _ how _ you’re here. Like I said, being us is enough.”

They remain like this for a while, close and together in every way that matters. Michael relaxes back against Calum’s chest, and Calum hooks his chin on Michael’s shoulder. Calum throws his feet over Michael’s ankles and their fingers intertwine after Michael squeezes Calum’s hands one last time. 

And as they finally both look up at the stars, Michael thinks that it’s only fitting that they’re physically wrapped up in each other the way their hearts are, puzzle pieces fitted together perfectly.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! comments/kudos are appreciated :)


End file.
